[.uk] Intimate Gatherings: Great Food for Good Friends (ISBN 0811815757)

Great menu ideas, easy recipes, delicious!:
The recipes in this book are very easy to follow and very delicious (slightly heavy on the garlic, though). Most of the recipes can be made without scouring your city for exotic ingredients. The recipes that I have made have worked well (unlike in some other entertaining based cookbooks). The best thing about the book is the menu ideas for dinner parties of different sizes. While I have yet to make a dinner as suggested by this book, I have composed a dinner party based on many of the recipes represented in this book. Excellent choice for people who want ideas for menu construction.

Inaccurate and incomplete recipes:
I was initially very excited about this cookbook until I began to acually put it to use. On two different occasions I have found receipes where there have been incomplete or confusing directions. The Parmesean Crips for example list a 1/2 tsp of butter in the ingredient listing but do not tell you when or where to add in the receipe! I have also found that in the Pork Tenderloin with Fruit and Port Sauce they instruct you to preheat an oven but do not tell you when and for how long to bake the dish. Friends that own the cookbook were equally confused. This is disasterous particually when entertaining-which is what this book is all about.

deliciously different:
I recieved this book as a gift two summers ago, and it's long since been a favorite. The mixed berry cobbler is to die for, and most of the other recipes are just as simple and wonderful to prepare and devour. A few suggestions, though. The authors never inform us when to remove the shells for the barbequed shrimp, and we are asked to baste the grilled chicken with bricks sitting on top of them! Nothing a more meticulous editor couldn't have caught. I really do like books that mention a little something about the recipes before simply listing the ingredients and method. I don't know about anyone else, but you really get a feel for the authors's passion for good food. Yummy.

My favorite new cookbook:
I can't say enough good things about this cookbook. Every recipe draws my interest and after a week of entertaining I can report every recipe from the book that I have tried is a winner. Start with the cherry almond biscotti and move on to the Tuscan Chicken with a Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado Vinagrette. I usually design a single menu from recipes from different sources,however there is enough in this book to keep me busy for awhile.